medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Bill East wrote:
>
> It may be worth a short pause to re-consider a remark of Dix which
> was part of our starting-point:
>
> 'but they [the Offertory chants] are usually chosen without close
> connection with the introit (which often has a connection of thought
> with the gradual). On the other hand, offertory and communion often
> seem to have a connection of thought between themselves.'
>
> From what we have seen so far, Dix would seem to be mistaken. As we
> have seen, the Offertory for Advent 1 is a reprise of the Introit (Ad
> te levavi); the Communion is quite different (Dominus dabit
> benignitatem) and relates to the Alleluia. The Offertory for Advent 2
> (Deus, tu conversus), from Psalm 84, is not at all like the Communion
> (Jerusalem surge) which is from Baruch, and has a similar theme to
> the Introit (Populus Sion) which is from another prophetic book, that
> of Isaiah. The Offertory for Advent 3 is again from Psalm 84, and is
> not very like the Communion, which is from Isaiah 35. In Advent 4
> there is clearly a connection of thought between the Offertory, 'Ave
> Maria' and the Communion 'Ecce virgo concipiet. In the Mass for
> Christmas Eve the Communion, from Isaiah, has similarities with the
> Introit, from Exodus ('videbitis gloriam' and 'Revelabitur gloria
> Domini: et videbit omnis caro'), but the Offertory is quite
> different. At the Midnight Mass, the Communion is a reprise
> of the Gradual, and the Communion is quite different.
>
> In only one of these do I detect any connection of thought between
> Offertory and Communion. One would surmise from most of these
> examples that the selector of the Offertory antiphons was on quite a
> different mailing-list from that of the Communion antiphons. But let
> us await more evidence before coming to a final conclusion.
I shall have to plot this out, but I sense a connection between the various
items, but across days - which is why I think that the Ember Days are an
important part of the picture. For Ember Saturday, which I have just
posted, the four Graduals link to each other, to the Introit and the
Communion, and to items on other days. The Offertory links to the Communion
of the Missa in Aurora.
John Briggs
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